Not again! More poor-quality issues on brand new 2020 C8 Corvettes are popping up on Corvette forums. It makes you wonder what’s going on? This time it’s with the stitched leather dashes. Look for yourself, there are a number of wonky dashes and crooked stitching apparently missed by the quality inspectors in Bowling Green. What makes it worse is that these are showing up on 3LT models. The 3LT trim level puts these C8 price tags at over $100,000. So it’s not like these are base models, of which there are almost none from what we understand. 

It seems there should be plenty of stages that something as obvious as this would get caught as noted in Corvette Forum. The supplying vendor would be the first place it should have been caught. Secondly, the assembly plant should have given it a cursory look and sent it back to the supplier. With enough dashes returned the supplier would get the message real quick.

Wonky French seams on the leading edge of the dash are one problem

The French seam along the leading edge of the dash is one problem area. But you can also see that even the stitching around the passenger dash airbag seems crappy. What’s up with that?

The problem becomes what owners can do about it. We’re sure that most dealerships would try to satisfy the customer by replacing the dash. But that poses numerous other problems. Once a technician cracks open a dash it usually leads to squeaks and rattles. It’s just the nature of car assembly.

From the factory, everything fits tight and right. Once door panels or dashes are removed and replaced it just never seems to be the same. That’s the issue facing owners now. 

Owners can live with it but should they?

They could decide to live with it, but you know the crooked stitching will become more grating as time goes on. Your Porsche or Ferrari buddies will never let you live it down for buying American. You know it’s true. 

Comparing the quality of European or Japanese cars–even cheaper models, this would never end up on one of those cars. So, whether it is covered by a warranty or even a recall it becomes a slippery slope whether to replace the dash or leave it be.

This isn’t the first poor quality issue brought to everyone’s attention

This isn’t the first quality issue that has popped up with new C8 Corvettes. Just a few weeks ago Paint on doors was chipped on numerous C8s due to a screw holding a wheel liner in place. It protruded far enough for the door to come in contact with it. This resulted in a chip on the door’s edge. Not good. 

That is an easier fix because once the correct screw is used the door edge can be touched up and color sanded and buffed. Not so with the dash installation. Numerous components and trim will need to be removed to gain access to fasteners. The more that is removed the more potential there is for squeaks, rattles, and even damage to adjacent components. 

If you’re thinking about purchasing a 2021 Corvette, you might consider going with the 2LT version rather than the 3LT just in case.